ChrisRodkey.com

Another job

Staring into the fridge for some inspiration.

Even at minimum wage, I won't be making as much as I did on my reliable, helpful unemployment checks. There will soon be a time of severe economic restrictions on my activities beyond what has already been a trying year for finances. Christmas is coming up and I can't afford to get my family and friends gifts.

All of this is giving me an anxious and dreadful feeling that I can't shake in my day to day life. It's the fitting end to a year that has seen me crushed and hollowed with each passing month and week. The days don't even seem to happen anymore, they're just one after another until you realize a week has passed, then another, until now -- when I'm at a significant crossroads in my life. I just can't afford the gas to go any farther.

t's becoming more obvious each day that I'm going to need to find a temporary job to fill in down here while I wait for official Canadian approval. This is an odd situation. I've never looked for such temporary work, and I'm having ethical misgivings about it.

First off, no employer wants to hire somebody full time and then have that employee quit after two or three weeks. And it feels like I'd be stabbing the company in the back if I were to do such a thing.

Second, I'm a college graduate. And I'm looking to work at, what, a convenience store? Or the graveyard at Jack in the Box? Again: I'm a college graduate. This is exactly the kind of horror story that you hear about in the news.

Which sort of brings me to the next point: I'm about to enter a truly humiliating period in my life. Not that this entire year hasn't been one disastrous humiliation after another, but it really will be crushing to what's left of my ego to put on an apron and take orders for cheesy fries.

Part of an ongoing Story Track about "New Job in Vancouver"